A woman with stage-four breast cancer has hit out at Facebook for removing her awareness-raising photograph.

Rowena Kincaid, 40, had shared an image of the rash around her nipple to let people know that a lump isn’t the only possible symptom of the disease.

Rowena shared the image to show that the rash could be a symptom (Picture: Rowena Kincaid)

However the picture, which was seen by 72,000 people in its first two hours online, was swiftly removed by the social networking giant. They claimed it had been automatically taken down due to the site’s anti-nudity policy.

‘It doesn’t see what the reason behind it is, it’s just automatic,’ she wrote. ‘It can’t see that the picture I posted earlier may actually save lives. I’m obviously totally gutted, as it took a lot to share my picture with you, because I’m so body conscious and fretting about sharing at all!!’

Rowena, from Cardiff, was first diagnosed with cancer in 2009 when she was just 33 years old. She told the Independent that she wanted people to be aware of breast cancer’s lesser known symptoms, such as rashes, inverted nipples and puckering.

Rowena was diagnosed in 2009 (Picture: Rowena Kincaid/Facebook)

‘I wasn’t out to offend anyone. It looks like something out of a medical journal,’ she told the paper. ‘Posting that photograph was the bravest thing I’ve done. It’s so personal, I was petrified.’

After the picture was removed, she evaded censors by sharing a version with a smiley face drawn over the actual nipple.

Update:

A Facebook spokesperson said: ‘Facebook is a place for people to share the things that matter to them.

‘In this instance we made a mistake and have reinstated the photograph. We apologise for any inconvenience that this caused.’